Fairwinds Cannabis Offers Limited-Availability Sriracha Tincture for 4/20

April 20 is the hottest sales day of the year in cannabis. This is especially true in Washington, where Fairwinds Cannabis launches its spicy sriracha tincture each year around this special day.

What was once a year-round product is now only offered as a seasonal launch, which is one big reason why Fairwinds’ sriracha tincture has gained something of a cult following in recent years. This year’s 4/20 celebrations promise more of the same hype.

CEO Wendy Hull says that Fairwinds is a wellness-focused company, and the team places an emphasis on product formulations and intellectual property development led by a team of four scientists. Fairwinds is well known in Washington for tinctures, topicals, capsules and, of course, the excitement it builds around 4/20.

The company first released its sriracha tincture in 2019, and it was available throughout the year. Hull and her team, which includes her husband James, were first interested in developing a THC-infused hot sauce that year. The goal was similar to other products they’d launched in the past: put together a compelling cannabis product that featured a dynamic list of ingredients, much like one would find on the label of a top-shelf hot sauce. (Hull says that cannabis, in fact, is often found far down on Fairwinds’ product ingredient lists.)

But at that time, Hull says the team encountered a lot of hot sauces on the Washington market. They needed something else that might distinguish them on store shelves. They didn’t have to look too long before stumbling on a unique twist on one of the most popular hot sauce products in the U.S.: Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha, known for its green bottle top and rooster logo.

“It was one of the most fun products we’ve produced,” Hull says.

The trick was in sourcing a good chipotle oil. But the clock was ticking in late 2018; Hull and her team knew that they wanted to launch this new tincture for 4/20, but they were not having much luck in tracking down a worthy chipotle oil. So, they decided to smoke their own peppers and extract their own oil in-house. And much like the powerful scent of cannabis flowers that greets workers on the way into the cultivation facility, the potent aroma of spicy chipotle peppers now ran through the building and set employees’ eyes to watering.

Right away, the final product was a hit. Fairwinds accompanied its initial tincture launch with videos, ads, local artists’ illustrations and a general encouragement to use this tincture with foods—especially tacos. (Not for nothing, Cinco de Mayo follows closely behind 4/20 on the calendar.) At 4mg per serving, and 100mg total in the bottle, Fairwinds’ sriracha tincture captured attention as an innovative formulation for customers interested in something new—something with a kick.

Then, in 2021, the team decided to limit the scope of this product, to dial back its distribution and focus this SKU around 4/20 with just 3,000 bottles shipped out to dispensaries in Washington. “Sometimes things are better when there’s some hype behind it, when it’s not readily available,” Hull says.

The hype is powerful. She adds that some customers buy the product just for the show of it, the pure novelty of the miniature bottle, which mimics the design of the hot sauce contained—green bottlecap and all.

As for Huy Fong Foods, the $150-million business behind the Sriracha hot sauce, they’ve embraced the THC-infused flattery. The Venn diagram of fanbases of both products overlaps quite a bit, and there’s no doubt that social media will light up this spring with photos and tags celebrating both the hot sauce and its limited-time-only homage.

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